


Fortuitous Meetings

by SoVeryAverageMe



Series: muses (a hq!! rewatch project) [7]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Background Sugawara Koushi & Takeda Ittetsu I guess?, Character Study, Gen, S01E07: Versus the Great King, kind of an origin story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22582666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoVeryAverageMe/pseuds/SoVeryAverageMe
Summary: Takeda didn't know anything about volleyball, and, yet, he somehow became the advisor to the Karasuno Men's Volleyball Team.This is a glimpse into how it happened.
Relationships: Takeda Ittetsu & Karasuno Volleyball Club
Series: muses (a hq!! rewatch project) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592755
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	Fortuitous Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> We're still (perpetually) behind on the rewrite project, but here we are again with another fic.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Takeda had never wanted to become the advisor to the men’s volleyball team. It wasn’t something that he chose, per say, but instead was something that happened to him. The duties foisted onto him like a happy accident.

When he started teaching Japanese literature at Karasuno last year, he didn’t even  _ know _ that they had a volleyball team. He had never participated in sports during high school, instead sticking to the less… physical clubs. Although he had a few friends in soccer and basketball, he knew next to nothing about volleyball. 

This was not going to end well. 

* * *

“Did you hear about the men’s volleyball coach?” 

Takeda was waiting for the microwave, listening in on the other conversations happening in the teacher’s lounge. The math teacher in front of him hadn’t covered her dish and was currently trying to clean up the soup that had exploded. 

“I hope that he’s alright. What happens if they don’t find another coach?”

He tapped his foot, looking at his watch while holding his curry in his other hand. If he got back to the classroom in time he might have time to grade a few quizzes before next period. 

“I don’t know. I guess the team would have to disband,” the teacher shrugged. “Without a coach they can’t be a sanctioned school team.” 

The person in front of Takeda had finally moved away from the microwave, and he stepped up to it before someone else could steal his spot in line. He shoved his curry in it, leaving the lid loose to vent the steam. 

“What do you think?”

Takeda looked up, staring at the pair of teachers sitting at the table closest to the microwave. He had been thinking about rewriting the next quiz. Last year his students had found one of the analysis sections confusing. 

“Uh, what did you say?” he laughed it off. “Sorry, I was just thinking about classes.” 

The other two laughed with him. “Teenagers, right?” the one on the left commented. 

“We were just asking what you thought about the volleyball team?” 

“Um.” He pushed his glasses up on his face. “Honestly, it hasn’t really crossed my mind.” They tried to ask him another question, but they were interrupted by the beeping of the microwave. He thanked the microwave’s timing for the save. “I really should get back to my classroom,” he said, waving goodbye and leaving the teacher’s lounge. He let out a breath of relief once he got back to his desk, pulling out a stack of quizzes from the locked cabinet under his desk. 

“Sensei?” He heard a knock on the door, and found one of his students peering in. “Sorry for interrupting your lunch hour, I just had a few questions about our last reading.” 

Setting the quizzes aside, he smiled. “That’s fine, Sugawara. It’s my job to be here for you students after all.” 

“Thank you so much!” Sugawara smiled, genuinely thankful at Takeda for giving up a little bit of his time. 

“It’s really no problem. I’m glad that you’ve come to ask questions.” He folded his hands in front of him, tilting his head to the side. “I’ve actually been a bit concerned. It seems like you’ve been a bit more distracted in class lately.” 

“Sorry about that.” Suga rubbed the back of his head, sheepish grin on his face. “I’ve been a bit stressed about the volleyball club. We just lost our coach.” 

“I’m sorry to hear about that.” Takeda nodded and changed the subject, knowing that there wasn’t much time left in the lunch hour. “What questions did you have?” 

His stomach had dropped, the feeling of guilt starting to claw at his throat. He continued to talk with Sugawara, answering his questions, but knew that he was about to make a rash decision. He just hoped that he wasn’t going to regret it in the future.

* * *

Takeda peeked into the gym, smoothing down his shirt. Even though he faced teenagers in the classroom everyday, this somehow felt different. He knocked on the door frame, and all eyes immediately honed in on him. It was incredibly unnerving. Shuffling through the door, he waved at them. The crowd of players coming to surround him on the edge of the court. 

“Sensei?” 

He coughed, clearing his throat. “Hello. Um, I’m Takeda. Uh… I teach Japanese literature here.” Looking down at his shoes and sticking his hand in his pockets, he continued, “I don’t know anything about volleyball, but I heard that you needed an advisor.” 

There were cheers of excitement, and a lot of questions thrown at him at once. He couldn’t hear them all above the din, but he managed to make out one of them. “Would you really do that for us?” 

“Again,” he put his hands up in front of him, calming the crowd of boys. “I don’t know anything about volleyball, but it sounds like the school will disband you if you don’t find anyone else. So, I can at least do that.”

After reassuring the team that he would be back tomorrow with all of the paperwork, he left the school for home. He’d have to figure out how to rearrange his schedule to fit in the team’s practices and games, even if they were mostly independent.

He still had the big problem of being completely out of his element. Volleyball was a total mystery to him. Takeda tried to solve this problem the same way he did all of his others: he pulled out his laptop and decided to do some research. After pulling up three different rulebooks, two playlists of YouTube videos, and one WikiHow article, he had a better idea of the game. 

He wasn’t a coach, though. It would be impossible for him to teach them how to play, when he hardly understood the game itself. There was no way that he was going to be able to do this alone. But he refused to give up. 

After that, it felt like things started to fall into place. He tracked down the grandson of the former coach, and while he hadn’t convinced him to teach Karasuno, he wasn’t going to give up on that option yet. Takeda was stubborn and knew that he could win this war of attrition.

In addition, they had a group of new first years on the team that had reinvigorated the team’s energy and excitement of the upcoming season, and a practice match with one of the best teams in the prefecture. 

After their first practice match with Seijoh, the team looked to him for inspiration. He still didn’t really know what to say, but he knew he was witnessing something incredibly special. Something that may even be once in a lifetime. 

With the team looking on, he could only smile and start speaking, hoping that what came out of his mouth would be the right thing to say. 

It was. 

* * *

Takeda may have never asked to be the advisor to the volleyball team, but he couldn’t imagine a better place for himself to end up. Over the course of that first year, he had learned the ins and outs of volleyball, witnessed the growth of an amazing group of young men, and had become part of something much greater than himself. He had even found them a  _ real _ coach!

This, through some lucky twists of fate, turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life.

He was  _ the _ advisor of the Karasuno volleyball team. All was well.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> Feel free to check out what I'm up to on other parts of the internet (I'm usually forgetting to tweet on [twitter](https://twitter.com/SoVeryAverageMe) or reblogging whatever I'm currently into on [tumblr](https://soveryaverageme.tumblr.com/)).


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